Christian Cliches

Compiled by Psycho Dave

Many atheists, myself included, have argued with Christians and Creationists so long, that we've noticed many of them seem to repeat the exact same statements over and over again, particularly with respect to their dismissals of what we have to say. By "dismissals", I mean that they usually end their thread of the conversation with a put-down. For example, first on the list below is "I'll Pray for you", which sounds nice, but is often used in the same context as "Well, fuck you anyway." When most Christians or creationists end their conversation with "I'll pray for you", they are essentially saying "Well, I'm still right, and you're wrong, despite which one of us may be better educated or carried their argument better..."

Below is a list of the most commonly repeated Christian cliches. You will see these statements, or slight variations of them, in nearly every message board and newsgroup that deals with religion versus non-religion. Please use this list to point out the complete lack of originality, or the predictability of Christians in conversations. For example, when you get a letter like THIS (this is an actual email I received), reply to it like, THIS (this is a response I actually mailed to the letter). The responses you get can be quite amusing indeed.

The List

The Pathos or "I pity you, Fool! " group These statements basically say that the Christian is a superior person who must have pity on all of the poor, lowly unbelievers.

(1)

"I'll pray for you."

(2)

"Jesus Loves You"

(3)

"God Loves You"

(4)

"I feel sorry for you."

(5)

"Atheists suffer from a mental illness that makes them unable to detect God/Spiritual things."

(6)

"Jesus still loves you!"

The "atheism = religion/faith" groupThese all boil down to saying that not believing in a religion is the same as believing in one.

(7)

"You have to believe in SOMETHING!"

(8)

"Everyone worships SOMETHING!"

(9)

"It takes a lot more faith to believe in Evolution than it does to believe in God."

(10)

"It takes a lot more faith to ignore the evidence of God than it does to believe in him."

(11)

"I only wish that my faith in God was as strong as your faith in Atheism/Evolution."

(12)

"You may think your happy, but you can only know TRUE HAPPINESS through Jesus Christ."

The "You're stupid, I'm smart, so stop wasting my time..." groupIn these cliches, the Christian tells you that you're either blind, stupid, ignorant, or willingly deceiving yourself, despite how much better your argument is than theirs.

(13)

"You have already made up your mind, and it's a waste of time to try to convince you."

(14)

"You have chosen to be blind to the TRUTH!"

(15)

"You have closed your heart off to the TRUTH!"

(16)

"You have obviously been deceived by the devil."

(17)

"I found Jesus. Why can't you?"

(18)

"The fool sayeth in his heart that there is no God!"

(19)

"You're obviously running away from God!"

(20)

"You're obviously hiding from the truth!"

(21)

"Though you say you don't believe, deep down inside, you know there is a God!"

The "God's obvious to me, What's your problem?" groupThis group assumes that all unbelievers have a mental block, or cannot see what it obvious to the believer.

(22)

"If there is no God, how do you explain the world we live in?"

(23)

"What happened in your life that made you hate God?"

(24)

"Of course the Bible sounds like foolishness! Without faith in God, you cannot understand his wisdom!"

(25)

"Even though you don't believe it, Jesus/God Loves you!"

(26)

"Even though you don't believe it, Jesus/God is REAL!"

The "Your life has no meaning" groupThese statements tell the unbeliever that their life is worthless, pointless, meaningless, or otherwise not worth anything, unless they accept JESUS

(27)

"Well, those people were not TRUE Christians..."

(28)

"A universe without God is a universe without Hope!"

(29)

"Without a God, life is meaningless."

(30)

"Christianity is not just the best answer. It is the only answer."

(31)

"You have devoted your life to something NEGATIVE (atheism), rather than something POSITIVE (christianity, of course)."

The "Just you wait..." groupThese all basically say that you'll eventually be a believer, when you're old enough, smart enough, have a revelation, etc.

(32)

"One day, you will know what THE TRUTH is!

(33)

"Some day, God will call you."

(34)

"One day you will call to God for help."

(35)

"If you simply have faith in him, you will see that God is real."

(36)

"I was once like you, a foolish, young, unbeliever..."

(37)

"There are no atheists in foxholes..."

The "Threats of Hellfire" groupThese are all empty, pointless threats that even if you can win the debate, you're going to go to hell, so fuck you.

(38)

"The day will come when you realize the lord is your only salvation."

(39)

"It's too bad that you're going to Hell."

(40)

"One day you will have to answer to Jesus Christ Himself, and then it wont be so funny when he throws your unrepentent soul into HELL."

(41)

"You had better get right with God now before it's too late."

(42)

"Hope you have an asbestos suit, cause you're going to HELL."

(43)

"Hope you enjoy your special place in HELL."

(44)

"One day, when you're burning in Hell, you'll remember this conversation, and that I warned you!"